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Thursday, January 31, 2013

A Reflection on Spiritual Gifts and John Piper on The Gift of Tongues

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.(1 Corinthians 12:1-11 ESV)

Recently I've been talking to some friends about spiritual gifts again. I say again because in the past I was extremely fascinated with them. I first became interested in the manifestations of the Spirit during the 1980's and really began to eagerly pursue the gift of prophecy in the early 90's. It's always been amazing to me how God chooses to use frail, imperfect people to minister in the power of the Holy Spirit. Even though we have all seen these gifts abused - God still gives them sovereignty as he wills. For the last seven years or so my main focus of interest has been on the gospel and Reformed theology. So, I have found the recent post by John Piper (who is theologically Reformed) both insightful and interesting to say the least. This is the third video I've posted by Piper on spiritual gifts. I hope you will be encouraged by these post. - Bobby

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Abide In Jesus

"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. " - Jesus (John 15:4-5, ESV)